State Of It: Why Brash's Failure Is More Strategic

State Of It: The Affair, Who Cares? It's A
Matter Of Failed Strategy

By Selwyn Manning –
Scoop co-editor

ALSO, Scoop Audio: (click here to
listen) Selwyn Manning and 95bFM's Simon Pound
discuss why the Brash affair debate has nothing to do with
morals but one of political strategy errors. Can Brash yet
be rolled?

*******

This extra-marital
affair between Don Brash and the Business Round-Table's
Diane Foreman becoming public knowledge, probably would not
have happened if National had not sought to link the Taito
Phillip Field case, with attacks on Labour's integrity re
the election campaign spending fiasco.

Labour's rabid MP,
Trevor Mallard, tossed the AFFAIR word into an interjection,
while Don Brash was attacking Labour in the House on
integrity grounds. National was, as a consequence of its
high moral ground, climbing in the polls. Indeed the
Molesworth and Featherston poll of polls displayed National
three percentage points ahead of Labour.

National, it
could be argued, was successful in mixing the two issues
together and presenting Labour to the voting public as a
party of sleaze merchants.

Labour was therefore forced to
counter the strategy, and clearly the job was handed to
Mallard. The effect of the interjection was enough for Don
Brash's minders to notice how close and raw the rumours
were.

The affair rumours were of course well known to most
of us in the political media since immediately prior to last
year's election campaign. It is surprising that Don Brash
appeared unaware that others knew about it, and more
surprising that, if some National MPs are to believed, many
in National's caucus were as much in the dark as the New
Zealand public was.

But the eventual fallout has not got
so much to do with whether Don Brash should have been
putting it about, but rather that of political strategy. He
failed to contain the issue in a way that would secure his
own integrity in the eyes of his politicians.

The public
must remember, that Brash challenged Helen Clark on the
sanctity of the Marriage institution. The morals of the
affair are not so much in question here, but rather how he
exposed the National Party to questioning of its own
integrity.

Therefore, the affair has not so much exposed
Don Brash to being labelled with a sleazy handle, but,
again, rather the resulting raw disloyalty within the
National Party caucus.

Among those loyal to him,
National MP Judith Collins delivered a sterling performance
on National Radio. Collins put on a grand show, a quiver of
voice, a slight breathlessness, almost compassion for
children in evidence. Marvellous, but really it seemed too
well scripted to be passed as mere drivel.

Collins said on
National Radio: "I don't comment on people's private lives
and certainly when Trevor Mallard and David Benson-Pope made
their allegations in Parliament about Dr Brash's private
life they crossed the line. "You've got children involved
here. The people who choose to bring families into it -
they're just a disgrace."

But as the Americans say:
Whatever!

One wonders whether Collins shed a tear when
Brash lashed out at Labour leader, Helen Clark's version of
marriage. I think not. Perhaps (going by Collins' values) it
was ok due to the Prime Minister having not had children.
Weird rationale one could say.

Should Brash
resign? Or wait a month or two to be rolled? That's the
situation his foot-soldier strategists will be preoccupied
with, all-the-while responding publicly that the majority in
caucus is behind him.

From the National Party's point of
view, Brash has lifted it in the polls to a lead position.
He has done his job.

If the National Party can hold onto
its corporate sector funders, and its business sector
support, then Brash can be rolled.

But National
strategists must first solicit that support before its
caucus makes a move. They know that. If National's men can
achieve that, and suggest a new, palatable, likely leader,
then Brash will go.

This current session of Parliament
has seen the debate sink to an uncomfortable low.

But
it's got a way to go before it achieves the stench of Rob
Muldoon's effluvium over the Colin Moyle affair. Muldoon
stood up in the House and basically said Moyle had been
cruising for men – at that time in our history
homosexuality was unlawful - even though public attitudes
largely did not find offence over one's
sexuality.

However, Muldoon got what he sought, Moyle
resigned, a by-election was held, Moyle returned but a
broken man.

That was, I believe, the low point, and a
demonstration of how low Parliament can sink given the
motive.

ENDS

ALSO SEE:KiwiFM Audio: Wammo talks to National finance spokesperson, John Key, about his comments regarding Don Brash.

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